Method and apparatus for communication system serving vehicles

Abstract

A technique comprising: receiving, at a data analytics function of a core network of a mobile communication system, travel path data from a traffic management entity, wherein the travel path data indicates a travel path for a vehicle comprising a user equipment registered to the mobile communication system; receiving, at the data analytics function, location data for the vehicle transmitted by the user equipment; and in response to detecting an inconsistency between the travel path data for the vehicle and the location data for the vehicle transmitted by the user equipment, outputting a travel path deviation report for the traffic management entity.

That which is claimed: 
     
         1 . Apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform:
 receiving travel path data from a traffic management entity, wherein the travel path data indicates a travel path for a vehicle comprising a user equipment registered to a mobile communication system;   receiving location data for the vehicle transmitted by the user equipment; and   in response to detecting an inconsistency between the travel path data for the vehicle and the location data for the vehicle transmitted by the user equipment, outputting a travel path deviation report for the traffic management entity.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the location data for the vehicle comprises travel path reporting data transmitted by the user equipment. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the travel path reporting data transmitted by the user equipment is transmitted by the user equipment as one or more messages indicating the location and arrival time for one or more waypoints. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the travel path reporting data is transmitted periodically by the user equipment. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the location data for the vehicle comprises location data transmitted by the user equipment together with measurements related to the radio access network. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: receive the travel path data from the traffic management entity from a network exposure function of a core network of the mobile communication system; and wherein configuration of the user equipment to transmit location data for the vehicle is triggered by a message from the network exposure function to an access management function for the user equipment. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: send, to an access management function for the user equipment, a message triggering configuration of the user equipment to transmit location data for the vehicle. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: receive the travel path data from the traffic management entity from a network exposure function of a core network of the mobile communication system; receive location data for the user equipment from a gateway location mobile centre; and, in response to detecting that the location data for the user equipment from the gateway location mobile centre is not consistent with the location data for the vehicle transmitted by the user equipment; report the inconsistency to the network exposure function. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the vehicle is an aerial vehicle and the location data for the aerial vehicle transmitted by the user equipment indicates longitude, latitude and height of the aerial vehicle. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the inconsistency between the travel path data for the vehicle from the traffic management entity and the location data for the vehicle transmitted by the user equipment comprises a deviation outside a threshold range of deviation. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus according to  claim 10 , wherein the threshold range of deviation is based on information from the traffic management entity. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises a network data analytics function or a management data analytics function of the mobile communication system. 
     
     
         13 . Apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform:
 receiving travel path data from a traffic management entity, wherein the travel path data indicates a travel path for a vehicle comprising a user equipment registered to a mobile communication system;   sending the travel path data to a data analytics function of a core network of the mobile communication system; and   in response to receiving a travel path deviation report from the data analytics function, sending the travel path deviation report to the traffic management entity.   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus according to  claim 13 , wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: in response to receiving the travel path data from the traffic management entity, send, to an access management function for the user equipment, a message triggering configuration of the user equipment to transmit location data for the vehicle, for use by the data analytics function to check against the travel path data. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus according to  claim 14 , wherein the location data for the vehicle comprises travel path reporting data for the vehicle. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus according to  claim 15 , wherein the message triggering configuration of the user equipment to transmit travel path reporting data comprises a message triggering the user equipment to send one or more messages indicating the location and arrival time for one or waypoints for the vehicle. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus according to  claim 13 , wherein the apparatus comprises a network function supported within a network exposure function of the mobile communication system. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus according to  claim 13 , wherein the vehicle is an aerial vehicle. 
     
     
         19 . A method comprising:
 receiving, at a data analytics function of a core network of a mobile communication system, travel path data from a traffic management entity, wherein the travel path data indicates a travel path for a vehicle comprising a user equipment registered to the mobile communication system;   receiving, at the data analytics function, location data for the vehicle transmitted by the user equipment; and   in response to detecting an inconsistency between the travel path data for the vehicle and the location data for the vehicle transmitted by the user equipment, outputting a travel path deviation report for the traffic management entity.   
     
     
         20 . A method comprising:
 receiving, at a network exposure function of a core network of a mobile communication system, travel path data from a traffic management entity, wherein the travel path data indicates a travel path for a vehicle comprising a user equipment registered to the mobile communication system;   sending the travel path data to a data analytics function of the core network; and in response to receiving a travel path deviation report from the data analytics function, sending the travel path deviation report to the traffic management entity.